Romeo Saganash

This month I visited the northernmost region in my riding, Nunavik, and met with people from all walks of life there. Trips like those give you a real reality check that some politicians go out of their way to avoid. Last week the Prime Minister had a chance to begin listening to the people of the North, but instead he stayed inside his bubble. Clearly, this is work that Conservatives cannot properly do.

For everything that the Conservatives have done to this country -- from lying about the costs of the F-35 program, to Bev Oda inserting the "not" that defunded KAIROS -- it's quite hypocritical of Harper's government to ask the First Nations for fiscal transparency on National Aboriginal Day.

When Prime Minister Harper issued the apology for residential schools, he promised to forge a new relationship with Aboriginal Canadians. Well, we have our apology and the new relationship that was promised has yet to appear. In fact, the Conservatives have drastically cut Aboriginal health and food programs while knowing full well that Aboriginal people across Canada are struggling with these issues.

The current Conservative government has seen fit to offer breaks only to the wealthy, exacerbating the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us. Families need help getting childcare, but instead of creating new affordable spaces, the Conservatives offer a tax break that doesn't cover the cost of a week's care for a single child.

Harper's bill C-11 is far more restrictive than it needs to be, more than the controversial copyright laws being fought in the U.S. courts, and more than international treaties regarding intellectual property require. Honest, hard-working educators, archivists, documentary filmmakers and consumers will be criminalized.

On the other side of the same bay from Attawapiskat, their Cree cousins are not living in the same squalor. It can happen elsewhere. There are solutions. Working in the original spirit of partnership, supported rather than constrained in self-governance, First Nations can move forward.

The Conservatives sold people a phony bill of goods, playing on anger over hot button social issues while undermining their economic future. But we can foster a sense of co-operation in our society rather than pitting people against each other, constantly fanning the flames of fear as Stephen Harper has done.

We proudly refer to being the second largest country in the world and one of the least densely populated. What receives less attention is the fact that with every year, more and more people are forced to leave home in rural communities to look for work elsewhere.

Given the cynicism about politics today, some people ask me why I would want to be a MP at all. You see, I wasn't anxiously waiting for a chance to get involved in federal politics. But along with other candidates, staff, volunteers and, as it turned out, a whole lot of Canadians, we agreed to begin a journey together.

There are some among the privileged few who believe that they are entitled to use what has been created by and belongs to us all in order to profit themselves alone. The growing gap between the rich and the rest of us is the result of this belief and it is in the process of sinking economies around the world.